Researchers found that ribbon-like thin films, grown through a bottom-up, self-assembly approach, can act as ultrahigh-quality nanoscale resonators of lattice vibrations at infrared frequencies. These ultrathin nanostructures are ideal platforms for applications that harness infrared light, such as thermal emission and molecular sensing. Read more »
Laser-Induced Cooperative Transition in Molecular Electronic Crystal
The cooperative tuning of a supramolecular electronic crystal enables access to a long-lived hidden conducting phase with a broad temperature range. Researchers demonstrate a dynamic and cooperative phase in K-TCNQ, with the control of pulsed electromagnetic excitation. A dedicated charge–spin–lattice decoupling is required to activate and subsequently stabilize the non-equilibrium phase. Read more »
A Powerful Infrared Technique Broadens Its Horizons
Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) focuses infrared light to dimensions below the diffraction limit, measuring properties with components perpendicular to the sample surface. Researchers have now devised a way to probe components parallel to the sample, where the technique has been less sensitive. Read more »
Hybridized Radial and Edge Coupled 3D Plasmon Modes in Self-Assembled Graphene Nanocylinders
The researchers report hybridized 3D plasmon modes stemming from 3D graphene nanostructures, resulting in non-surface-limited (volumetric) field enhancements and a four orders of magnitude stronger field at the openings of cylinders than in rectangular 2D graphene ribbons. Read more »
2020 Shirley Award to Honor Miquel Salmeron
By taking surface studies from ultrahigh vacuum to near-ambient pressure, Miquel Salmeron’s work at the ALS has had deep impact on a broad range of scientific questions, revealing the chemical, electronic, and mechanical properties of surfaces and interfaces on the nanometer (and often atomic) scale. Read more »
Infrared Nanospectroscopy at Graphene–Liquid Interfaces
Researchers developed a new infrared approach to probing the first few molecular layers of a liquid in contact with a graphene electrode under operating conditions. The work offers a new way to study the interfaces that are key to understanding batteries, corrosion, and other bio- and electrochemical phenomena. Read more » 
Expanding the Infrared Nanospectroscopy Window
An innovative infrared-light probe with nanoscale spatial resolution has been expanded to cover previously inaccessible far-infrared wavelengths. The ability to investigate heterogeneous materials at nanometer scales and far-infrared energies will benefit a wide range of fields, from condensed matter physics to biology. Read more »